Wednesday, November 30, 2016

A Return to Authorsden

With my illness and subsequent disability from it, I had to let go my association with Authorsden many years ago. My page remained up but I could go now further. 

I deleted the old and put up some new ones! I uploaded my three books: a novel, essay, and chapbook. 

I also published two new poems with more still to come.

Dawn L. Mullan on Authorsden.


I hope you stop by and leave a review!

Have a great and wonderful day~ 



Chapbook Page Updated

I took some time and divided up the chapbooks into their own singular pages. So I could add the book covers in a large form too!  

I have also uploaded two new chapbooks and pushed back a couple others. Now the time line makes a little more sense.

Reiteration received a polished book cover. The art is now dynamic. This chapbook will be my 30th year anniversary of being a published poet, but it will not happen until 2023. 

An extra few years means more poetry to be added! 

So have fun on the Chapbooks page of Poetry

Have a great and wonderful day! 



Friday, November 25, 2016

Just Leaving It Hanging

A fellow writer had brought up the subject of using cliffhangers for novel endings. 

My response was to use cliffhangers if you are going to answer the question in the next book of a series, but if you only write one book, then make sure to resolve everything by the end. 

My stories are not long as a full length novel. I write shorter novels, but not less complex ones. 

I make sure there are subplots and character developments. In the end the stories are completed and the reader feels they have taken a journey with my protagonists. Yet, to spur on interest for the next book, I give a little taste of what is to come... with a cliffhanger in some, but not all cases. 

Someone reacted indignant to this use of cliffhangers as disrespect to readers and to yourself as a writer. I do not agree. If you have everything pretty much sewn up and there is a last minute act or realization, then the reader can decide if the next book will be for them or not. 

I am upfront that I am writing a book series, not a stand along book. So the reader has to expect something to cross over into the next story line. Or why would it be a book series? 

So In the Name of Blood had the main character, Riley Austen, have an epiphany at the end of the book... to be carried on in Book II. Will this series go to Book III? I am letting the characters decide. Many times the characters also decide the end of the novel. Riley sure did. That ending even surprised me!

With Nocturnal Redemption, I can go either way: a clear cut ending or a cliffhanger... 

As writers, should we not tease our readers a bit? 

Have a great and wonderful day! 



Tuesday, November 22, 2016

On Holiday Schedule for the Rest of the Year

It is time to kick back and relax! 

Oh, who are we kidding? I am busy editing and writing Nocturnal Redemption for a winter release. As well as I have updated Sonoran Dawn Studios, Poetry, and Publishing sites. My personal site has also seen a good scrub. 

With the temperatures decreasing, it is time to bundle up and write! Winter is always a fun time to sit and write. At night, when all the shows are repeats due to the holidays, I have dedicated nights to polish for next year's release. 

2017 appears to be going to the fictional side of writing. 2016 was nonfiction essays and recipes for the most part. This new year should see two new chapbooks as well as one novel plus the second book to In the Name of Blood series. 

By the end of December, I should have a great list of publications ready for their debut. Then Sonoran Dawn's Schedule page will be updated. 

But for now, I will write and create and edit. So I will update the blogs in between this last push of the year. No more releases are expected until 2017. 

As you can see my vacation has been all work and lots of play! 

Have a great and wonderful day! 



Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Received Pudding, but Got No Milk

Spit in one hand and wish in the other was a common phrase when I was growing up. 

We did not have money growing on trees. I lived on the clearance side of life and still am. Money was to be budgeted and savored, if you wanted something special. KMart layaway during the holidays was a ritual event. 

Those memories were brought to the forefront when I realized that I finally had my pudding mix, but I had no milk in the refrigerator with which to make it into pudding! 


That is okay. Thanksgiving isn't for another week. I think I can manage getting some organic whole milk between now and then. 

It's just comical how life hands you pudding mix and forgets the main ingredient!

Writing a story is much the same thing. You think you have it all figured out and then your character says to you: hey, what about this? Shit! You drop your pencil and walk away. 

You have to devise plan B. Or, C... maybe even G. 

Isn't writing like life? 

Have a great and wonderful day!



Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Love is in the Eye of the Beholder

When you have written a novel, editing the story into manageable parts can be a challenge. 

I am working on two different novels but I will only publish one this coming February. I haven't decided on which one yet... but I bet you have already guessed it these are loves stories. My stories have plenty of action and drama but Nocturnal Redemption and Gibbous are driven by the relationship of these people instead of a crisis like in book one of In the Name of Blood

One is pretty much done for a first book release and to finish the rest of the story episodically in a series instead of all at once. Trouble is the story is under 40K words. I like my novels around 45K words. 

Gibbous is done at 60K words but I want to expand the story so the adventure is smoother and the characters are perfected. 

After worrying all this time about releasing a novella instead of a novel, I remembered: I am the publisher! I can do whatever I want. Then all the stress and worry dissolved. 

I feel much better now.

...but you will have to wait to see which one I publish in February 2017. Is it the vampire, supernatural romance of Nocturnal Redemption? Or the werewolf saga of Gibbous?

Who wants to guess?

Have a great and wonderful day!  


Monday, November 14, 2016

Religion is Like Owning a Haunted House is Available

This essay is a satirical and metaphoric look at religion in our society.

We all have them. The haunted house we inherited from our parents and their parents before them. To some people religion is the haunted house that keeps them from knowing or understanding the spiritual side of life. 

In this unique perspective, the author offers an explanation of why humanity owns these haunted houses... with a satirical twist. 

Is your religion haunting you? 




Download your copy from the Sonoran Dawn - Nonfiction store. It is a free download for a limited time, so if you do: please leave a great review! 

Have a great and wonderful day! 


Thursday, November 10, 2016

It is All in the Pudding

Funny thing when online shopping sometimes what you want is out of stock.

My favorite organic pudding mix was one of those items that went missing. I finally found it somewhere else and ordered a slew! Twenty dollars was the line for free shipping and I crossed it. 

So after nine months of no type of pudding for desert, I finally will have some at the ready. 

The End. 

Don't you wish all stories were that easy to write and the characters so easy to appease? I know I will be pondering that as I write and edit my next releases. In between eating bites of my chocolate pudding! Recipe later! 

Have a great and wonderful day!  



Paranormal Romance for the Election Hangover

This national election cycle left me dreadfully dreary. Votes are still being counted. In order to cure my election hangover of too much television news, brightly lit electoral college maps, and a host of very unhappy commentators on CBS and PBS, I began to edit and write. 

I have been working on getting two different types of paranormal romance novels ready for publication. Romance is a bit of a stretch since I am not a romance type writer. I write for plot and character, not to be provocative. 

We will go by the Merriam Webster definition of romance:
a medieval tale based on legend, chivalric love and adventure, or the supernatural (2) :  a prose narrative treating imaginary characters involved in events remote in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous, or mysterious (3) :  a love story especially in the form of a novel
That better suits the way I write: for love. I will leave the reader to fill in all the blanks!

How about you?

Have a great and wonderful day! 




Wednesday, November 2, 2016

In the Works

As the publication releases for 2016 come to a close, we reflect back on an awesome year. 

With the creation of Sonoran Dawn Studios, several essays, recipes, poetry chapbooks, and fiction novels have been published with more on the way! 

2016 has been a positive and bright year for the author at Undawnted and I cannot wait to see what will be on the publishing schedule for 2017. 

If you would like to support my creative efforts, then please purchase an item from our Author Spotlight or from Sonoran Dawn

I could always use the help with a donation to A Safe Place for Us

Thank you so very much! 

Have a great and wonderful day!!! 




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